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Do you have an Ancient Egyptian nerd in your house? When my almost 11-year-old asked for an Egyptian themed party I thought, “oh boy, no Pinterest to help me on this one!” Thanks to the Kane Chronicles he’s all about all things Ancient Egypt. So if you find yourself in the same boat, I’m here to help you my friend! I’ve got decoration, game and food ideas for a fun Egyptian bash.

Egyptian Party Decorations

As usual I tried to transform our dining room into a different world for the party. In this case, it was Ancient Egypt. It mostly consisted of the tablescape and the one wall.

Ancient Egyptian Tablescape

For the table the task was to make something fun and functional that a group of 10-11 year old boys would appreciate (kind of a tall order I think). I ended up using a roll of wrapping paper with a gold geometric pattern on it for a table runner. It wasn’t my original plan but I had it on hand and liked the way it looked. I found something similar here. Over the wrapping paper I placed a gold beaded runner I found at walmart, and then I wound some gold tulle through everything for texture.

At each place setting I had a gold charger, cheap dollar store blue paper plate, a skeleton goblet (It was near Halloween so I found those skeleton goblets at the dollar store), silverware bundle, name card written in hieroglyphs, and some chocolate golden Egyptian coins.

For the silverware bundles I used gold plastic silverware from the wedding section at Walmart (left over from our Harry Potter party) and wrapped them in dollar store blue napkins. I made napkin rings with some cardstock and the super cute printables from Lilacs and Charcoal. When she reached out to me to tell me she had Ancient Egyptian printables I couldn’t believe it! And they were just perfect too. I ended up using a ton of stuff from her Party Bundle download!

For the name tags I copied the method I had used for my sister’s wedding using my cricut to write the names on shimmery cardstock and then using metallic gold craft paint to paint the top and bottom. I just downloaded this font to figure out their names. If you’re interested in having me make some of these for your gathering just shoot me an email: partylikeacherry@gmail.com

Each place setting also had a hieroglyphic alphabet (to help them decode their names) and some papyrus as a fun souvenir. Be aware that all the Egyptian alphabets available vary a bit, and this particular one does not line up perfectly with the font I linked and used.

Finally each place setting had some chocolate coins that my mother-in-law made with these cool molds. I think those were everybody’s favorite part (although the name tags were a close second). I also kinda just sprinkled them around the table.

For the centerpiece I stuck Mr Anubis on there, which we had from our time in Egypt. Then I put the pyramid cupcakes on gold chargers on top of golden pillars that I found from Salvation Army (also reused from our Harry Potter party).

Finally the finishing touch (which added SO much) were the palm leaves. I actually had ordered those well in advance but then they got lost in the mail and showed up just hours before the party. I was so happy because they made a huge difference!

Ancient Egyptian Backdrop & Props

My crowning achievement from this party was transforming a cardboard box (it was the box that my son’s new bed came in) into a King Tut. You can see more details on the step by step transformation in my Instagram Story Highlights, but suffice it to say I considered him my fifth born son by the time I was done. By the way we have so much fun over on Instagram, I’d love for you to join us as I DIY through all these crazy party themes.

Here are some progress pictures to help you see a bit of the progress. But basically I just used recycled/garbage cardboard and dollar store finds. (That staff and flail of Rah is actually a candy cane I broke in half).

DIY SARCOPHOGUS TIPS

• Start with a long rectangular box (I used a box that a bed had come in, you can check your local appliance store to see if they have “garbage” to share. I usually have the best luck with more mom/pop type stores that don’t immediately crush all their boxes).
• Use a box cutter to shape it like a sarcophagus as in the pictures above. I started with just a straight line down but late added the tapered shape, I suggest the tapered shape. It made a big difference.
• Once you have it to shape you can add the more 3D elements to help it come to life. I used a Halloween mask I found at the dollar store and a toilet paper tube to shape the face.
• I used this template as a base for the headdress (but enlarged it) and traced it on thinner cardboard (like a cereal box).
• Next I added the arms and the crook & flail of Rah. I used skeleton salad tongs that I found at the dollar store near Halloween time and a large lawn type candy cane that was also at the dollar store (lucky me they had Halloween & Christmas out). I cut the candy cane in half and hot glued them in the skeleton hands. I also cut a toilet paper tube in half to put around the wrists to act as cuffs.
• Once I had all my 3D elements on I spray painted the whole thing gold.
• I used blue streamers folded in half and hot glued on to add the stripes to the headdress. I also used blue streamer to add color to the crook and flail of Rah.
• I added some final details with my cricut like his eyes, the cobra on his headdress and the hieroglyphs down the body of the sarcophagus.
• Lastly I added some golden beaded ribbon I found at the Dollar Store as well around the cuffs and along the edges with my glue gun.

Other than King Tut I also used yellow bulletin board paper to make a huge wall mural pyramid. It was actually REALLY hard. Mostly because I was working with a wall that had wainscotting and a ledge on it so it wasn’t a flat wall. But once I had my pyramid shape I traced stone lines on it with a huge ruler.

I cut the palm tree trunks using brown craft paper with my cricut and then used the palm leaves I ordered for the top. The pillars are just cardboard boxes (I really like trash) I covered with craft paper that I had written hieroglyphs on with my cricut.

For the dessert table I used a gold table cloth and added more palm leaves and golden coins.

On the other side of the backdrop I used the fun printable banner from Lilacs & Charcoal and a huge life size Anubis I made with the cricut (that was an extremely painstaking task).

Egyptian Party Food

I got lucky and the birthday boy wanted Taco Bell for dinner, so we just did some Ancient Egyptian desserts. My wonderful mother in law made the amazing cake (as usual).

How cool is that? She used one of those cake pans where you can adjust the size I believe, and then some more chocolate coins and some gold cake dust.

On top we put this king tut head and used some crumbled up graham crackers for sand around the bottom.

We also put this sphinx next to the pyramid. The birthday boy was pretty stoked he got to keep them after the party.

Believe it or not, I did the cupcakes! I was very proud of myself as making pretty baked goods is not my forte. I just made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. And then added Toblerone to the top for little pyramids. I also added the chocolate coins onto some of them. I couldn’t decide if I liked them better with our without so I did half and half. Finally, I dusted them with the gold cake powder.

I used some shiny gold cupcake wrappers to complete the look. These were so simple, trust me! If I can do them, you can do them!

Egyptian Party Games

To keep with the evening of mystery we went to an escape room before heading back to the house to have dinner and watch Indiana Jones. But before settling on going to an escape room I thought a lot about doing our own Ancient Egyptian escape room at home. They actually have escape room kits you can purchase (for a lot cheaper than going to a real one) and it makes it so much easier. I didn’t get this kit, but this was the one I was thinking about getting. I think it would be the perfect entertainment for an Egyptian themed party!

Shopping List

Here are some links to get you started!

• Party Printables from Lilacs & Charcoal
• Table runner (here’s one idea)
• Gold Craft Paint
• Cardstock (metallic shimmer)
• Papyrus & Egyptian Alphabet
• Palm Leaves
• Gold cake dust
• Chocolate coin mold
• King Tut cake topper and sphinx
• Cupcake wrappers
• Cardboard cutters
• This would be a fun backdrop if you don’t want to construct your own pyramid 😉

I hope that this makes planning your own shindig easier, and I’d love if you shared pictures! You can DM me on Instagram and send me an email partylikeacherry@gmail.com.